Heir Of Slytherin Book 1: Friendship

by Elektra Elentari

Danny has had a pretty normal life until now. Well... Normal if you count the fact that his parents are dead and he lives in an orphanage. But he isn't very normal himself. His friend Mel will take him on an adventure that he will never forget, one that will not only introduce him to the world of magic, but also help him realise who he really is...

4. The Sorting

As always, updating on a Sunday I give you the next chapter of Heir Of Slytherin! Thank you for your reviews DSCWin and Alicia Olivia Mirza.

Once we stepped through the doors, we found ourselves in a big room. There were four tables in that room, where the students who were older than us were sitting. In front of all those tables was an even bigger one where some adults were sitting, the professors. But the most fascinating thing in that room was the ceiling, it looked exactly like the sky outside.

Professor McGonagall was now bringing a stool and an old pointed hat into the room. She set them down and then the hat actually started singing.

Hello young wizards and witches

I am the Sorting Hat

Come here let's have a little chat

So I can sort you in your Houses

If brave you are and daring

You'll be in Gryffindor

If not you could be cunning

And go to Slytherin

But why not in Hufflepuff

Home of all the loyal

Or if to learn you would do all

I'll put you in Ravenclaw

Now come don't be shy

And place me on your head

For by doing that you may find

Your new best friend

But that my friends does not mean

That only from one House you can have friends

For even this school's founders

Were different indeed

But where there ever greater friends

Than the four of them?

When the hat was done, everyone applauded. McGonagall then pulled out a roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will step forth, put the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted into your House."

She unrolled the parchment and read.

"Abner, George."

George, who had been on my boat gulped and stepped up to the stool. He sat down and put the Hat on his head. Not long after he put it on, the Hat announced "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff students applauded and I saw Lupin amongst them. George took the Hat off and sat down at their table.

"Anderson, Max."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Andrews, Melena."

I tried my best to see exactly what was going to happen now. Mel sat down on the stool and put on the Hat. It hadn't been on for long when it said "GRYFFINDOR!"

Mel took the Hat off excitedly and her hair turned red with some golden streaks. The Gryffindors welcomed her happily to their table.

"Armstrong, Phillip."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bayleaf, Amy."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Boxer, Jessica."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Bumis, Lyra."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Candon, James."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Cobsworth, Ophiuchus."

"RAVENCLAW!"

After a while I stopped paying attention. I did notice though that Anemone and Felix were indeed both placed in Ravenclaw. The people around me kept getting lesser and lesser until I finally heard "Odny, Daniel."

I walked up to the stool and put on the Sorting Hat. I almost jumped when it started talking, I hadn't heard it talking to everyone else.

"Well, well. What have we here? Not a Hufflepuff, I don't think so. What about Ravenclaw? You like learning new things. Oh, but some new thing you learnt cost you someone important."

How did it know that?

"I know everything right now."

That was creepy!

"That's what everyone says. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Maybe not a Ravenclaw either. So, Gryffindor or Slytherin? I see great bravery in you. Maybe you'd do well in…

Wait! No. There's something else. Ambition. You wish to prove yourself."

Hey, I was just thinking how I wanted to get my wand and teach those idiots at the orphanage a lesson. I wanted to prove that I'm not weak.

"A lot of determination too. I've made a decision. You'd best be in SLYTHERIN!"

Finally, that was over. It felt like a century since I put on the Hat. I took it off, put it on the stool and made my way to the Slytherin table. So, the bad thing was I didn't know anyone from Slytherin, but the good thing is that I didn't end up in the same House as Mel.

Opposite me sat a girl with the straightest and blondest hair I'd ever seen. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail with only one strand of hair, a bit like a fringe but not exactly like it, hung down by the left side of her face. Her eyes were an icy blue.

It was a few seconds after I sat down that she introduced herself, almost like she wanted to see if she approved of me. "I'm Janet Morcroff," she said.

"Danny Odny," I introduced myself in return.

We didn't talk again until the Sorting was over with Diana Zine being sorted into Ravenclaw. "So," Janet said "Do you come from a pureblood family? My family is all wizards and has been like that for centuries."

If she hadn't said that last bit I would have had no idea what to answer. "Yeah, I guess we're all wizards. My parents were, but I never really knew them. I mean, I remember what they looked like and their voice, but they died when I was two years old and my only family left, my aunt, left me outside an orphanage."

Honestly, I'd never told someone I'd just met so much information about me. Janet was the first person I met in Slytherin, what if she thought I was weak and pathetic because of what my aunt did, like everyone else? So, why had I said it?

"That was an awful thing to do," she said.

I was about to change the subject when McGonagall rose from her seat. "First of all," she said "Let's begin the year by singing the Hogwarts march. Everyone, pick a pace and sing."

She waved her wand and a scroll appeared. Everyone got up and started singing. It sounded like a mess. Most of the Slytherins didn't, but Janet did and so did some other boys so I thought why not. I could hear Mel singing enthusiastically at the top of her voice. Lupin was also singing excitedly, arms draped around another boy's shoulders and a dark haired girl.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

When the signing was over, the students who had sung began clapping enthusiastically.

"I have some announcements to make," McGonagall said after the clapping stopped. Janet rolled her eyes, as if she already knew what McGonagall was going to say.

"The Forbidden Forest is, exactly as its name says, forbidden to all students."

"Supposedly," Janet interrupted as McGonagall continued. "Many students have gone into the Forest and out again. We should go and explore sometime." Did she really say 'we'? So she didn't think I was weak or pathetic, she actually wanted to hang out with me.

McGonagall kept talking about what we're allowed and not allowed to do. It got boring, too many rules. By the end I wanted to go to bed straight away. Finally, she stopped and sat back down. Then, magically, food appeared on the tables.

All thoughts of sleep left me and I got very hungry. Some other boys were already stuffing their mouths with chicken. I served myself and started eating. The food was amazing! Dessert was also great. When the Feast was over, the Prefects led us to our dormitories. The Slytherin ones were in the dungeons, underground, pretty cool.

"Gillyweed," the Prefect who introduced herself as Prefect Webber said when we reached a stone wall. When she said it, the wall slid open revealing the Slytherin common room.

It was very cosy in there and I would have paid more attention if I hadn't suddenly gotten tired again. Prefect Webber showed us where the boys' and girls' dormitories were. She wished us goodnight and we headed to bed.

We were four boys in my dorm. Me, one who introduced himself as Danus, and gave us a warning to never call him Eridanus which, apparently, was his full name, Marius and a boy named James, whose name I only knew because he'd been one of the first ones to be sorted, when I was paying attention.

I said I only knew his name because of that because the moment we stepped into the dorm, James opened his trunk, pulled out a pair of pyjamas, climbed into his bed and pulled the drapes around himself. Obviously he was shy, but he seemed to fit every House's description but Slytherin's.

Danus suggested that he might be from some stereotype family where they'd all been in Slytherin and that's why he was here as well. I agreed, even though I didn't really get everything he said. I made a mental note to research wizards because all my dorm mates did except me, which was pretty embarrassing, considering I came from wizard parents.

We spent about ten minutes getting to know each other. Those ten minutes ended in something so funny we burst out laughing. What made it even funnier was that after a few seconds we'd forgotten what had made us laugh in the first place.

We were forced to stop and go to bed when an angry Prefect Smith barged into the dorm and forced us into bed while going on about keeping the entire House awake and that he'd report us to Professor Snape and Professor Slughorn if we don't hurry up. When I did get in bed I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

I was exhausted and luckily I didn't have any weird dreams that night. Well, none if you don't count that dream about telling everyone in Slytherin house I had a nose and them finding it fascinating.

I worked my butt off trying to write that Sorting Hat song so please give me some credit by writing a wittle weview. Pweeeease! *puppy face*